Its a big day for us! We launched both our NEW CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN and our STREAMING PLATFORM switch TODAY! Very exciting stuff indeed!

But...this past couple of weeks/month has been trying for all of us. We spent a couple days moping and weeping into our Breathe Easy, then remembered - ITS THE JOB OF ARTISTS to give perspective on the darkness. This fired up our loinparts HARD and it dawned on us that the best thing we could do is USE IT to inspire us in the making of this next batch of episodes. I mean we were ALREADY PLANNING on ending up the story arc in a PLANNED PARENTHOOD ("STD Day"). Its gonna be rich. AND more FEMINIST and GAY then ever. What can you do? YOU CAN HELP us make these dreams into a reality!

When we toured the Southern film festival circuit this fall, (Austin, Nashville, Miami, New Orleans) many people came out to tell us how F*d things were in their communities, how religious discrimination and hate swirls around them, how two people of the same gender can’t hold hands walking to Starbucks and not be shunned.

We know this is happening in the world, and we make this show to be a small tool of change. Our mission is to employ laughter to send messages of freedom and acceptance, and we intend to push things EVEN FURTHER with this next bout of episodes. Writers Alicia J. Rose & Courtenay Hameister have extreme insanity up their sleeves with a feminist/gay comedic purview that will PULL NO PUNCHES. WATCH US.

We are funding 25K to support all stages of PRODUCTION, MARKETING and PR of the next three episodes. We focus on maintaining a gender/racially diverse cast and crew that gets paid fair wages. And even though we run a modest ship, we aim to keep our production value as high as if we were on network TV. The film community in Portland, Oregon is nimble and genuinely talented and we are lucky to work with such fine folks. THESE are the people you are supporting by contributing to our campaign.

If we surpass our $25k goal, we will set stretch goals to fund the making of more episodes.

For EARLY CONTRIBUTORS we are offering some fancy pants perks - including nights at The Jupiter Hotel and River's Apartment (which is actually a sexy Air BnB), gift cards from Fantasy Video and Mothers Bistro - and more to come (rumours of show tix at Doug Fir and the Wonder are on the rise...) - as well as CUSTOM CURATED ARTISINAL GIFT BASKETS by Brooke and a "Webinar on Oral Performance" from Kurt. Sigh...so good. SO BECOME AN EARLY SUPPORTER TODAY! <3

We are thrilled to be the flagship episodic on Seed & Spark's NEW subscription based STREAMING CINEMA, which costs $10 a month - half of which goes to support the indie projects of your choice! We are massive fans of the team at Seed & Spark! FUN STUFF

We wanted to give people options, so we put down some Season One Gusband roots at ye ole Vimeo On Demand and VHX. Though they are more "buy" than "stream" we have a feeling these portals will evolve quickly. But in the meanwhile, if this is how you roll, you can get your Gusbandry needs met.

Most of all THANKS to each and every one of you. We couldn't have gotten this far without you. So much love to each and every one of you during this chaotic time. We stand with you and look forward to making your laugh your ass off sometime soon.

We are having a good week! The NY Times just posted a wonderful review of the show (and season finale) in their "Critics Notebook" - and we are more than a little bit stoked:

Amongst other fine scribing they said "Sharp writing and spirited performances...The season finale is a delirious 16-minute masterpiece of pretension-puncturing." I guess we can celebrate 420 with an extra big smile now!!! Yeah

So yes - the SEASON FINALE IS LIVE - watch now and get wrapped into the wild lives of Jackie and River in "Exes":

And thanks to all the lovelies that came out last night for the Season One Binge and Finale Premiere! It was a huge blast - so much love. Here's a pic from the Q&A, which Courtenay, Kurt, Brooke and Lara rocked with me:

Alright guys - thanks again for being such a great community and for supporting us through this insanity - its exciting to know that people are digging the show (even critics!). Now we just have to get more eyes on it!

We are seriously besides ourselves with the love we are getting from EVERYONE about The Benefits of Gusbandry, but we couldn't me more stoked that well respected online entertainment hub The AV Club agreed to premiere BOTH PARTS of our latest episode "FML". We are just a tiny little show made in Portland OR, and what they said made us blush:

Episode 3: FML "Part 1 Premiere Monday November 30 -

"With a mordant wit and natural, lived-in performances, it combines the easygoing charm of shows like Master Of None with the dark humor and outsized personality of You’re The Worst.... A smart, funny voice..." READ MORE HERE

and then TODAY!!

Episode 3: FML "Part 2"

"We can assure you the wait was well worth it, as the awkward comedic payoff demonstrates again how smart and well-crafted this show is. Alicia J. Rose’s tale of sexual and emotional mayhem continues to be among the better web series vying for your attention." READ MORE HERE

Keep up with the latest episode and subscribe to TBOG on YOUTUBE or VIMEO!

Check out our frequently updated PRESS PAGE for the latest and greatest hubbub on the show and of course follow TBOG on Facebook and Twitter!

Love to all y'all for supporting the show. We sure have a lot of fun making it. But sharing is the best.

They called our pilot "40 & Sporty" (and we are paraphrasing a lil here) "Witty, charming, SHAZAMABLE and full of potential for future sass and shade" - we couldn't ask for a better debut into the public world!!

Our dear friend (and WorkGusband) Bob Mould called it "brilliant and funny and dirty and cool.”

ALAS - we've been busy! In conjunction with our premiere we have readied ourselves for the world at large - so get clicking and subscribing so you don't miss A SINGLE EPISODE! We are already hard at work editing episode 2 - "Gay Not Gay" which will premiere October 2015! Expect monthly installments doling out the rest of our 8 episodes through Spring 2016! What?? Yep.

We will be offering webisodes FREE for now via our Vimeo and Youtube Channels - SUBSCRIBE to stay on top of things!

I mean, what the hell just happened? We started writing in April and now Gusbandry is LIVE IN THE EARTH PORTALS OF INTERNETLAND! How awesome is that. Every single collaborator who worked on the show is responsible for this - AND EVERY SINGLE person that gave us the support to get 'er done IS A CHAMPION OF OUR HEARTS.

Thanks y'all - we hope you dig what we made for you. Cause we have more coming.... ;-)

Please watch the show and SHARE any of the above links with your friends!

It seems like a wild feverdream, but in less than 5 months we have conceived, written, shot and are now editing together the first 3.5 episodes of our little feminist/gay funy-as-hell web series The Benefits of Gusbandry. Perhaps its some kind of record, maybe our own bizarre pretend reality show, or just the right mix of zeitgeisty and hilarious subject matter and a team of collaborators that KILLED IT. Cause we DID IT Gusbandlovers - we wrapped on production of the first half of the season and have been busting buns in dark basements to ready our pilot episode -"40 & Sporty" for its WORLD PREMIERE at the Portland Film Festival Friday September 4 at 10:00 PM! We are part of the "relationships shorts" block and you can buy"Midnight Movie" single tickets HERE! SO psyched!

If you can't make it in person, don't fear! We will be premiereing TBOG online (via youtube & VOD) a few days after our terrestrial premiere - more info on that soon!

Incentive Update! Now that we've gotten through production, we are focusing on delivering your incentives. Someone from Team Gusbands will be in touch soon to suss choices and delivery info. Thanks for your patience on this front.

But lets back up a second...we want to share some awesome BEHIND THE SCENES pix with you guys - our first supporters!!

River (Kurt Conroyd) and Jackie (Brooke Totman) on location at the fabulous bar Moloko surrounded by crew during the filming of Episode 2: Gay Not Gay

River and Jackie on the set of Fantasy Video for our scandalous Episode 3: FML! So juicy it's a TWO-PARTER!

A little peek at the monitor of River (Kurt Conroyd) and Don (Greg James) on set at Salt & Straw while filming Episode 3: FML!

This has really been an incredible ride. Mid March I didn't know what I was going to do with my career. SERIOUSLY. Now I'm vibrating at the core with excitement to share what me and my team of brilliant badasses made for you all. YOU'RE GONNA PLOTZ.

It has been only TWO WEEKS since we got the GREEN LIGHT from Seed & Spark and were 104% funded - and we head into production of the first 3 episodes of The Benefits of Gusbandry TOMORROW! To say this has been a whirlwind would be an understatement, but hey we were serious about making this and we don't F around!

Our CREW is also beyond top notch. Our dashing Director of Photograpy Bradley Sellers comes to us from a background of shooting shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Mr. Show, our Producer Lara Cuddy from making films like Cell Count and Birds of Neptune - they have both been working with me (creator/ director AJR) for the past few years, helping craft some of my best music videos (Bob Mould, First Aid Kit, AgesandAges etc). The rest of our team is bananas. My co-writer Courtenay Hameister is an evil genius. The best. This show is going to RULE SO HARD.

Portland really is the best place to make art. SO many supportive folks make a project like this possible in such a short turnaround! And the locations...oh the locations. For our first 3 episodes you'll find us at Moloko Bar, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, Fantasy Video and more...this town. WE LOVE.

SO -what's next? Tonight Courtenay and I do one last mega-tweak on the scripts, then tomorrow call time is 9am for our first day of shooting. Over 4 days in the next weekwe will shoot the first 3 scripts - which will turn into our pilot and 2.5 other episodes (#3 is a two parter). We have some crazy shenanigans planned. Brains are going to melt. And not from the summer heat.

Then BOOM! The Benefits of Gusbandry will PREMIERE at the Portland Film Festival (Sept 1-6 - screening deets soon)! That's in LESS THAN A MONTH. We say WHY NOT? Momentum is everything and we are ready to rock and roll this lil Gayby into the world post haste!!

And most importantly - LOVE YOUR GUSBANDS! This production couldn't have been made without the inspiration, muse-i-ness and love from my Gusbands... Lake, Leland and the rest of you fuzzy lovelies (you know who you are) - THANKS AND SLIGHTLY INNAPROPRIATE HUGS for supporting this insanely fun project into life!!

Wow, what a weekend! The Benefits of Gusbandry is 102% Funded WOOT!! And SURPRISE - Seed&Spark added a day to our campaign because of technical difficulties some of you had when trying to access their site. So that means YOU CAN STILL CONTRIBUTE for ONE MORE DAY! If you were meaning to (esp if you had trouble with their site) - DO IT NOW - your $ will cover fees and future episodes.

We are MAKING THIS SHOW! And soon - we plan to shoot in the next 3 weeks. Yikes!

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

CONTRIBUTE:

If you are FOLLOWING the show, but have not contributed (that's about half of you) please consider contributing today. $5, $10 or whatever you can swing - it all helps. This is it -YOUR LAST CHANCE to join us in making this wild outside the box comedy. Time to jump on the train!

URGE YOUR FRIENDS TO FOLLOW:

We have 199 followers - but we need 500 to unlock the power of Seed & Spark - PLEASE SHARE the campaign link today and urge your friends to FOLLOW:

BONUS funding day for @TBOGUSBANDRY @seedandspark due to tech issues. YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE for 24 more hours! #DOIT bit.ly/1NDO66w

THANKS AGAIN DEAR PEOPLE - We are SOOO excited to make this show! We start shooting in less than 3 weeks and will be posting fun updates along the way. It took a village of Gusbandlovers to bring this little DIY gem to life!!

As of 4am this morning The Benefits of Gusbandry jumped to 82% funded and GOT THE GREEN LIGHT from Seed & Spark - meaning we get the $ and get to make this show, F YES! I’m plotzing, FOR REALS. This show is going to rule and I can’t wait to shoot it in 2 WEEKS (yep you heard right), and premiere the pilot at the PDX Film Festival in early September - WE DO NOT F AROUND. This has been a whirlwind of a journey that I couldn’t have done without my crack team of collaborators and most importantly YOU. It truly does take a village to birth something like this into the world. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

ITS THE LAST DAY OF OUR CROWD FUNDING CAMPAIGN AND YOU CAN STILL HELP!

The remaining 18% needed to complete our budget ask represents $ to pay our cast and crew, cover production and post expenses, and is crucial to our overall success.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP US REACH OUR GOAL:

- If you have already CONTRIBUTED to the campaign - THANKS YOU RULE!! Please post congrats and encourage your friends to FOLLOW our SUPPORT TBOG in this last push. We only have 36 hours to raise another 2K!!! Ack!

- if you have been MEANING TO CONTRIBUTE - CLICK HERE AND DO IT TODAY! Sometimes the Seed & Spark site is a little buggy. It WILL work, so just keep trying. If you get frustrated, email me directly - and we can take a check or run a CC via Square.

Thanks to the 78 of you who have CONTRIBUTED to our campaign we are 54% funded - which isn't too far from the 80% we need to get the GREEN LIGHT from Seed & Spark. Yup - that's only $2500 away from THIS SHOW BECOMING REAL. SO exciting! We have 139 followers out of the 500 we need to unlock Itunes Distro - so please spread the word of GUSBANDRY by sharing the page, videos, tweeting this to the world:

Followers who have NOT contributed - Please do so ASAP - we have only 4 days left of this crowd-funding nuttiness before its done. Thank GOD for Xanax and Weed, just saying! We need your $ to make this happen!! Even $10 makes a difference! Though the perks are juicier at $75 and above ;-)

But enough stumping - lets PARTY!

OUR dear sweet generous bear gusband exec producer Leland (yep u heard right) offered to help us throw a FUNDRAISING BASH TONIGHT - and its looking like its going to be a fun as hell doozy of an evening...

FREE round of drinks, Salt & Straw Ice Cream and Pizza for those who Follow or Support The Benefits of Gusbandry! We will have a list at the door with your names on it! There will even be a champagne toast thanks to the case of prosecco donated by the sweeties at Rev Hall! Wowza!

Thanks again for being a part of The Benefits of Gusbandry. We are truly humbled by your generosity and support. It takes a village to get projects like this off the ground, and we are so lucky to be building one with fine folks like you at the core.

The Benefits of Gusbandry is thrilled to announce a new member of our team - one of my sweetest Gusbands Leland Hanson has come on board as an Executive Producer!! Thanks to Leland we have lowered our ask on Seed&Spark by 50% AND he is matching contributions up to $1000 through the weekend! WHAT!!?? So wonderful.

Because of that we are now 35% funded and counting!

We are in the FINAL WEEK OF FUNDING - THE HOME STRETCH! We have a little over $7K to raise - daunting, but doable - WITH YOUR HELP!

NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO CONTRIBUTE AND DOUBLE THEIR $$ THROUGH THE WEEKEND!

Whether they just FOLLOW the project or SUPPORT with $ they will be helping! It would be great to break 100 followers today - just sayin'...

We have a special treat for you! A hilarous little "extended scene" from the treadmill sequence in The Benefits of Gusbandry's teaser featuring the incredible Brooke Totman in the role of Jackie - our fearless female lead!

Thank to everyone for their support so far. We are a bit behind the Seed & Spark pack at only 14% funded and followed with less than 2 weeks left, but with YOUR help we can move that boojie lil' dial. Will you help us TODAY?

But here’s the scary part - we are crowd funding RIGHT NOW and have only 12 days to raise over 15K! HOLY CRAP.

Will you help us make this TV show a reality in the next 12 days? There are a few ways…

1 - Contribute $$ to the campaign ASAP. With your financial support WE CAN DO THIS. Whether you can afford $20 or $1000 - EVERY PENNY HELPS and we are offering some amazing perks for your dollars - night at the Jupiter Hotel, jewelry by Betsy & Iya, dinner at Mothers Bistro and Bar, 10 class passes to Yoga Shala, even a photo shoot with me for whatever you want. YOUR GENEROSITY will get this show made!!

2 - Urge your friends to FOLLOW the campaign on Seed & Spark, we have only 69 followers out of the 500 we need. Yikes. At 500 followers we get access to a greater level of distribution through S&S - we get pushed through to ITUNES, FIOS, and many other digital platforms. And we establish a powerful presence amongst all the web detritus. Its FREE to follow and every follow counts. You do have to sign up for Seed & Spark to Follow - but Its easy with one click to sign up through Facebook, only a few more clicks to do so via email.

3 - SPREAD THE WORD OF GUSBANDRY! Tell your friends! Share the Out.com or Portland Monthly articles or the Seed & Spark Gusbandry homepage - tell your girlfriends, your gusbands, your mother, your pals, whomever you think will get a kick out of this craziness. Word out mouth is EVERYTHING!

HUGE THANKS in advance for helping us make this fever dream a reality. I have NEVER wanted to make something as badly as I want to make The Benefits of Gusbandry. My heart and soul is in this series and I know the world will dig the hell out of it once it makes it onto their screens.

Thanks so much for taking this wild ride with us. We have made 12% of our funding goal! A great start!! Kind of like the slow hare wearing a striped speedo, plodding to the finish line. He'll get there, but he might need a push or three. Think of yourselves as the first kind hands to spank us to life. A gift.

We are chomping on the bit to get production started and the wheels spinning for The Benefits of Gusbandry. One day at a time we know! But today was a really good day.

We got a GREAT bit of national press in OUT Magazine today…maybe a good time to help us spread the word to your bffs, industry peeps and Gusbandlovers?

Check it out:

"The new gay web series is the hilarious, irreverent show about stoners in their 40’s that we’ve been waiting for. “ - Out Magazine

FUCK YES.

also Portland Monthly ran a great bit on the show last week:

"PORTLAND COMEDY SERIES ‘THE BENEFITS OF GUSBANDRY’ HEADED TO A SMALL SCREEN NEAR YOU"

and of course, our main Seed & Spark Page - we know it sounds culty - but we need FOLLOWERS so we can get distribution!! We have 65 out of 500 - that's only 13%. Its FREE to follow. Can you each tell a friend to follow our lil love Gayby?

Friends, supporters, followers and GUSBANDLOVERS, thanks so much for making the launch of The Benefits of Gusbandry a success! We have started gaining momemtum and are just teetering at the 10% mark ONE WEEK into our campagin.

So soon, but so many exciting things have started to happen:

The fine folks at Portland Monthly Magazine gave rave reviews of the teaser and did a hilarious write up of our project - read about it HERE.

And if that isn't enough, rumor has it that we may be hosting a little Yenta Special Gusbandry Pool Party & Mixer the final week of the campaign. Our supporters and followers via Seed & Spark will be the first to know all the details about this!

We are humbled by your generosity and hopeful that we will reach our goal and get the First Season of The Benefits of Gusbandry on the way this summer! If you, like us, are relying a little too heavily on self-medication to dull the anxiety of this process, there are a few things you can do to help:

THANKS AGAIN so much to those of you who have graciously made our first week of this craziness so fun. If you haven't supported, will you drop a few duckets into our campaign to get us over the 9% hump? We'd like to think we are at LEAST 10% humpable.